This invention relates to personal ornamentation, jewelry, decorations and the like, and more particularly, to such ornamentation, jewelry and decorations which are positioned or carried directly by a body part of a person.
Human beings have been adorning their body parts with jewels, decorations and other ornamentation for centuries. One such common form of body ornamentation are earrings which are directly carried by, hang from, or are otherwise positioned on, an ear or both ears of a person instead of being attached, for instance, to their clothing. It is quite common for persons who desire to wear earrings to have an ear or both ears pierced in one or more places to accommodate positioning the earring or earrings. However, once pierced the person has to position an earring part in the opening through the ear or the opening will close. Piercing of other body parts to attach jewelry, decorations or other ornamentation""s thereto has also become commonplace. Lips, noses, breast nipples, and other body parts once pierced also require placement of an ornament, decoration or other item through the pierced opening or the opening may close and require re-piercing.
Many people, however, do not wish to have their body parts pierced because of problems with keeping the pierced opening open. There are also concerns with possible health hazards due to having a pierced body part, from the body part piercing, and possible discomfort from either always wearing an ornament or whatever is utilized to keep the pierced opening open.
There are, however, earrings which do not require piercing the ear to facilitate wearing an earring. Clip-like or clasp-like arrangements such as those shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 1,684,783 patented to R. Spear on Sep. 18, 1928 for xe2x80x9cEar Ornamentxe2x80x9d; in U.S. Pat. No. 2,383,448 patented on Aug. 28, 1945 to C. Christy for xe2x80x9cEar Ornamentxe2x80x9d; in U.S. Pat. No. 3,739,599 patented on Jun. 19, 1923 to A. Malone for xe2x80x9cResilient Earring Including Means Limiting Pressure On the Ear Lobexe2x80x9d; and in British Letters Patent Number 19,730 patented on Feb. 1, 1912 to A. Halliday for xe2x80x9cImprovements In Or Relating To Earringsxe2x80x9d, are known. However, all of these arrangements require the use of body gripping members which engage the body part over a relatively small area and which, therefore, may apply an unacceptable positioning pressure to the body part that results in discomfort to the wearer. Moreover, these body part-gripping arrangements are peculiar to earrings and would most likely be unacceptable to position an ornament or decoration on other body parts such as breast nipples. Examples of body decoration or ornamentation, particularly for positioning on the nipple of a person""s breast, are shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,987,667 patented to H. Zwart on Jan. 29, 1991 for xe2x80x9cMethod of Decorative A Human Breastxe2x80x9d and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,125,244 patented on Jun. 30, 1992 to H. Zwart for xe2x80x9cNipple Ring For Decorating A Human Breastxe2x80x9d. Both of these patents require use of a clamping collar of the type shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,107,824 patented to M. Lussier on Aug. 22, 1978 for xe2x80x9cClamping Collarxe2x80x9d which encircles the nipple and may apply too much pressure around the entire nipple. Human breast nipples, like other human body parts, differ in size and shape. The Zwart nipple ring may prove unacceptable because if the smallest size to which the ring closes is still larger than the particular nipple upon which it is to be positioned the ring will fall off; and if the nipple ring closes to a size smaller than the users nipple then possible unacceptable pressure will be applied around the entire nipple creating discomfort to the wearer and/or distortion of their nipple""s shape. In addition, squeezing the end pieces of the Zwart devices between ones fingers and manipulating the device over a nipple while resisting the built in spring effect to close the opening may prove to be troublesome and thus render the type of decoration and positioning unacceptable. D. Milawski, on the other hand, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,625,526 patented on Dec. 2,1986 for xe2x80x9cNipple Decoration Devicexe2x80x9d provides spring biased arcuate pads for positioning a decoration on a human breast nipple. Here again the possible separation between the arcuate pads if too small may create a painful experience and if too large will result in the decoration not being able to stay on. Moreover, keeping the pads separated while positioning the device on a nipple appears to create some degree of difficulty. Separating the pads once the device is in place may present even greater problems.
According to the invention, a body ornament comprises a first positioning arm having first and second portions and a second positioning arm having first and second portions. The first portion of the first positioning arm is connected to the first portion of the second positioning arm, with the first positioning arm crossing over the second positioning arm at a first crossing point and at a second crossing point. The first and second positioning arms form a generally elongated loop between the first crossing point and the second crossing point for receiving a body part. The second portions of the first and second positioning arms are movable between a first position wherein the loop is a first size and a second position wherein the loop is a second size which is larger than the first size. Preferably, the second portions are biased toward the first position. A first stop tab is located on one of the first and second positioning arms for holding the second portions of the first and second positioning arms in the first position.
Further according to the invention, a body ornament comprises a first positioning arm having first, second and third portions, and a second positioning arm having first, second and third portions. The first portion of the first positioning arm is connected to the first portion of the second positioning arm, with the first positioning arm crossing the second positioning arm at a first crossing point and at a second crossing point. The first and second positioning arms form a generally elongated loop between the first crossing point and the second crossing point for receiving a body part. The second portions of the first and second positioning arms are movable between a first position wherein the loop is a first size and a second position wherein the loop is a second size which is larger than the first size. Preferably, the second portions are biased toward the first position, with the third portions of the first and second positioning arms extending beyond the second crossing point from the second portions of each positioning arm.